(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hybrid vehicle (or a hybrid electric vehicle), and more particularly, to a method and a device for controlling a start time of an engine in the hybrid vehicle.
(b) Description of the Related Art
An environmentally-friendly vehicle includes a fuel cell vehicle, an electric vehicle, a plug-in electric vehicle, and a hybrid vehicle, and typically includes a motor to generate driving force.
A hybrid vehicle, which is an example of the environmentally-friendly vehicle, uses an internal combustion engine and a battery that both generate power. In other words, the hybrid vehicle efficiently combines and uses power of the internal combustion engine and power of the motor.
The hybrid vehicle may include an engine, a motor, an engine clutch to adjust power between the engine and the motor, a transmission, a differential gear apparatus, a battery, a starter-generator that starts the engine or generates electricity by output of the engine, and wheels.
Further, the hybrid vehicle may include a hybrid control unit (HCU) for controlling an entire operation of the hybrid vehicle, an engine control unit (ECU) for controlling an operation of the engine, a motor control unit (MCU) for controlling an operation of the motor, a transmission control unit (TCU) for controlling an operation of the transmission, and a battery control unit (BCU) for controlling and managing the battery.
The battery control unit can be called a battery management system (BMS). The starter-generator can be called an integrated starter and generator (ISG) or a hybrid starter and generator (HSG).
The hybrid vehicle can be driven in a driving mode, such as an electric vehicle (EV) mode, which is an electric vehicle mode using only power of the motor; a hybrid vehicle (HEV) mode, which uses rotational force of the engine as main power and uses rotational force of the motor as auxiliary power; and a regenerative braking (RB) mode for collecting braking and inertial energy during driving by braking or inertia of the vehicle through electricity generation of the motor to charge the battery.
The above information disclosed in this section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.